Burial casket lamp



May 30, 1933.

W. R. GRANT BURIAL CASKET LAMP Filed Dec. 29, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENZOZZ KB WW2 6m? May 30, 1933. R, GRANT 1,912,035

BURIAL CASKET LAMP Filed Dec. 29, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 /7\ f g 4 S Z9 2 g Patented May 30, 1933 UNETED stares aaiaeas WILLIAM R. GRANT, OFIHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA BURIAL CASKET LAMP Application filed December 29, 1930. Serial No. 505,359.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in a burial casket lamp and has for one of its objects to construct a device of this kind so that a number of intensities of light may be projected on the surroundings, thus making possible to project light of one intensity upon a corpse, another intensity of light above the casket whereby a room in which the casket is located may be 19 indirectly lighted and a more subdued light or shadows produced in the immediate proximity to the casket.

Another object of the invention is to pro duce a lamp structure having two compart- 5 ments for the location of electric lamp bulbs or sources of light, one of said compartments being open at the bottom to permit the passage of light rays downwardly therefrom and the other compartment open at the top to 20 permit the passage of light rays upwardly therefrom.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and unique means for adjusting the position of the lamp on a support,

5 such as the upper edge of the casket cover when the latter is in an open position.

A still further object of the invention is to provide means for hanging the lamp upon a suitable support and other means for adjusting its upright angular position.

A stillfurther object of the invention is i to provide for controlling the intensity of the light emanating from the compartment from which the rays of light are projected downwardly and also for controlling the source of light in both compartments for lighting or extinguishing the-m simultaneously.

With these ends in view, this invention consists in the details of construction and combination of elements claims.

In order that those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains. may understand how to make and use the same, I will describe its construction in detail, .referring by numerals to the accompanyingdrawings formin a part of this application ,in which hereinafter set forth and then specifically designated by the Fig. 1 is a View of a casket as it might appear in a room showing my improved lamp used in connection therewith and illustrating the manner in which the rays of light are projected.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front elevation of the lamp constructed in accordance with my improvements.

Fig. 8 is a top plan View thereof.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44L of Fig. 3, showing the lamp applied to a portion of a casket cover.

In carrying out the invention as herein embodied, 5 represents the body or casing of the lamp which may be of any desirable material and fashioned into any suitable configuration so long as it isopen 'at'the top and bottom. The interior of the lamp body ,or casing is divided into two compartments by a partition 6 positioned diagonally or obliquely from the bottom or lower part of the lamp casing or body to the top or upper portion thereof and connected with the walls of said body'or casing so that the light rays from a source of light within one compart-' 5 ment will not pass into the other compartment but will project downwardly from the bottom of the casing or body from one compartment and upwardly from the body or casing from the other. compartment. The lamp casing or body preferably includes a front wall 7 a back wall 8 and side or end walls 9 and 10. The front wall 7 preferably has an aperature 11 formed therein across which a transparent or translucent panel 12 may be disposed and said panel may be removably heldin place in any suitable manner as is well known in this art so that different styles or types of panels may be interchangeably used. The rear or'back wall 8 is preferably of extra stiff material, such as metal, and has an inturned flange 13 at its upper end and an inturned narrow bottom wall 14 at its lower end from the forward edge of which the par-' tition 6 projects upwardly and forwardly'toward the front wall 7 providing the compartments 15 and 16, the former being open at its upper end whileithe latter is open at its bottom end. If found desirable, the end walls 9 and 10 may be bent up from the front wall 7 I and the bottom wall 14 and partition 6 produced from the same material as the back wall 8 and the two elements then fastened together by suitable fastening devices 17 to complete the lamp structure.

Both surfaces of the partition 6, in particular, may be polished to provide reflectors and likewise any of the other walls of the device may be polished to act as reflectors but to more fully follow out the idea of providing different intensities of light, the interior surfaces of the walls forming the compartment 15 may be more highly polished than the surfaces of the walls forming the compartment 16.

In the compartment 15 is located a source of light 18, such as an electric light bulb which may be mounted in the usual socket 19 supported within the body or casing of the lamp and in the compartment 16 is also located a source of light 20* which may be in the form of an electric light bulb and also mounted in a socket (not shown) similar to the socket 19 and these sources of light may be of different candlepower or the source of light 20 may be subdued by the use of a colored' bulb or the electric. current passing thereto may be controlled by a suitable rheostat operated by a chain 21 but both sources of light are connected in a single circuit with the switch 22 so that operation of the latter will either turn on or off both sources of light simultaneously. l/Vhere the sources of light are produced by electric lamps, which is preferable, suitable conductors are necessary to carry the current from a source of energy and such wires are illustrated diagrammatically in Figs. 3 and 4 and represented by the numeral 23.

In order to support the lamp as above outlined, suitable hangers 24 are provided which may be made of wire or other suitable material and the hook ends 25 which are adapted to pass over an object, such as the front edge of a casket lid 26 when the latter is in an open 1 position may be covered with material to prevent damage to the highly polished surface of the casket lid while the shanks 26 of said hangers pass through and are rotatably journalled in the inturned flange 13 and the bottom wall 14 with the lower ends of said shanks bent over as indicated at 27 to prevent accidental displacement of the hangers.

Since the lids of burial caskets vary in thickness and some have more ornamental material than others, it is necessary to construct the hangers so that they will fit the lids of greatest thickness and then when used with lids of less thickness or a greater amount of compressible ornamental material, the lamp might be set at an undesirable angle and throw the light rays rearwardly. There are also some conditionswhen the burial casket lid is not opened to its fullest extent or,

in other words, the lids of some caskets are opened at different angles to the lids of others and therefore it becomes necessary to provide for adjusting the lamp to the angle which will properly throw the light rays into the casket regardless of the position of its lidor other conditions.

To accomplish the proper adjustment of the lamp, I provide an adjustable brace, which as here shown, consists of a tube 28 mounted between the lower end of the front wall and a tail piece 29 secured to and depending from the rear wall of the lamp casing or body and in this tube 28 telescopes or is slidably mounted a rod 29 which may be held in any desirable longitudinal adjustment in the tube by a set screw 30 having threaded connection with the tube and passing therethrough to impinge on the rod 29. After the lamp has been placed upon the support 26 so I as to be held'in place'by the hangers 24, the adjustable brace is then properly adjusted by moving the rod 29 in or out until its outer end engages the surface of the support 26 with the lamp casing or body in the desired angular position after which the set screw 30 is tightened to maintain the adjustment.

In actual practice, when the lamp is placed upon the open lid of a burial casket, as shown in Fig. 1, the light lightQO within the compartment 16 will be projected into the casket, as indicated at 31, while light rays from the source of light 18 in the compartment 15 will be projected upwardly, as indicated at 32, thereby indirectly lighting the surroundings, but the frontand sides of the lamp casing or body will form shadows, as indicated at 33, thus giving the proper and desired subdued effect on certain immediate objects surrounding the cas ket, and thus effectively showing ofl the undertakers work.

Ofcourse I do'not wish to be limited to the exact details of construction as herein shown, as these may be varied within the limits of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of my invention;

-Having thus fully described my invention, what I-claim as new and useful is 1. A lamp for use in connection with burial caskets consisting of a body or casing ,open at its top and bottom and further provided with a translucent front portion, av part1- tion extending obliquely from the upper end of the front of the casing downwardly toward the lower end of the rear of the casing for dividing the interior of the body or casing into two compartments, the forward one of which is open at its lower end and the rear one open at its upper end, an electrlc 3 light bulb in each of said compartments, the rays of one being directed downwardly into the casket on which the lamp is mounted and through the translucent front while the rays from the other bulb are directed upward for rays from the source of indirectly illuminating the immediate surroundings of the casket, and a switch to turn said lamps OE and on.

2. A burial casket lamp comprising a body or casing consisting of side, front and back walls, a partition extending from the upper forward part of the interior of said body or casing to a point adjacent the lower rear part of the interior of said body or casing, a bottom wall extending from the lower end of the partition to the lower end of the rear wall, said partition and bottom wall dividing the interior of the body or casing into two compartments, one of which is open at the bottom and the other open at the top, and an electric light bulb in each compartment, the rays from the bulb in the compartment which is open at the bottom being projected downwardly to the interior of the casket on which the lamp is mounted and the rays of the other being projected upwardly to indirectly illuminate the immediate surroundings of the casket.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

XVILLIAM R. GRANT. 

